Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The International Panel on Climate Change synthesis report is another shocking reminder that the writing isn't just on the wall for climate change; it's already in the embers and the mud of the communities that are burning and flooding around the world. But, just as we stand at the precipice of disaster, we still have a choice of whether we fall over that edge. This week, the IPCC has again warned us that there is a narrowing pathway through which we can preserve life as we know it on Earth. This pathway does not include 116 new coal, oil and gas projects and $11 billion a year in public money subsidising the fossil fuel sector. As the IPCC and the world's scientists have made clear, if we are going to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of the climate crisis, action must start with no new coal and gas.

I know that my community of Gladstone in Central Queensland is one of the regions that was built off the back of the fossil fuel boom. The workers who were a part of that deserve our thanks. If done right, our region also stands to gain from the transition to renewable energy and associated industries. That is why the Greens are calling for the creation of a national energy transition authority, so that workers and the communities around them can capitalise on the opportunities presented by the renewable energy transition. We have a real opportunity to make sure that Gladstone, and other regions like it, can genuinely become an economic powerhouse while avoiding the catastrophic effects of climate change.